Chapter Twenty-Eight

I was strapped to the table. This was never a good sign and I had a strong feeling those that brought me here weren’t friendly. My suspicions were immediately confirmed as I saw Asai’s face come into my field of vision.

“Long time, no see, Luther,” she said. Her eyes were dead. I mean, they lacked pupils to begin with, but she had clearly taken everything I had done up until this point personally. Good. “Do you know where you are?” 

“I can’t turn my head, so you tell me,” I said.

“The Alpha Corps Keep. I find it funny how the place you spent the most energy trying to reach will be your final resting place,” she taunted. 

She pressed a lever on the side of the table I was strapped to and it tilted me upright. In a room directly across the one I was trapped in, I saw Vice, still missing his arm, strapped to a table like me, except instead of Asai, Price, Cobbs, and a few other Nobles I don’t care to mention in front of him, he only had Vital and Tyfuse in his room. And instead of paying attention to him, they were staring at me with disinterested looks on their faces. 

“I must ask why you spent all that energy to get here in the first place. What did you honestly hope to find?” she asked. I couldn’t look away from the other room. Vice was barely conscious. They likely hadn’t done anything to heal him. A shot rang out and I felt a sharp, pain shoot through my lower abdomen. “I’m over here.”

Asai was holding a smoking revolver. Everyone else in the room had covered their ears due to the sound. I felt a wet substance leaving my ears. I assumed they were bleeding, but the bleeding stopped pretty swiftly. 

“What. Did you. Hope. To find,” she repeated. 

“A third serum.”

“Third?” She seemed genuinely confused. “There’s only been one officially released. Was the second shot you received from a shittier version?”

“Put the pieces together you dumb bitch,” I said through grit teeth. The sharp pain did not cease. “I killed both doctors related to the serum when I first began this massacre.”

“You got the second shot from Watts’s serum and survived?” she deduced. “The only other person that’s been able to do that is…”

I was inclined to ask who, but I had a feeling it was Lux. I was sensing a pattern for the Noble I had yet to meet.

“No matter. Your journey has reached its end. But, before that, we’ll force you to watch as your friends die before you,” she said, gesturing to the window to the other room. I didn’t even struggle to break from the restraints. Instead, my entire body went cold as Vital siphoned Vice’s powers before sinking his fist into Vice’s chest and tearing his still beating heart from it. 

I was aware it was possible for my crew to die during the course of my journey, but I had expected it to be in the heat of a battle or through a noble sacrifice. Not through execution. So far, these “heroes” were showing me they’re just like me, using whatever brutal tactics were necessary to get into the mind of the opponent and win. 

I think my lack of a visual reaction pissed Asai off more and she let another bullet fly through my stomach. 

“Now, it’s time for us to have some fun, just like when you were in prison. Carlie, my tools,” she said. As Cobbs prepared her torture kit, I heard the Noble I remember as Ripple whisper to his wife Plethora.

“Don’t you think Asai’s taken it a little too far?” he asked. So, not everyone of them was on board with what she had done up until this point. I would consider that should I ever see them outside of this place.

What was I thinking? Did I really think it was possible for me to escape now? Every time it seemed like there was no out for me, I’ve somehow survived. Not just due to my healing, although, it did help. Here Asai was ready to end my life surrounded by the others I’ve hunted in her own facility, and I believed this wasn’t the end. Was it naivety? The constant thought in the back of my mind that this could not have all been for nothing?

I didn’t have an answer. I would continue to question this as the alarm sounded and the room went from a bright white to a dark, flashing red. 

Asai sighed. “I really do wish we could have had more time. Oh well.”

She unloaded the remaining four bullets into my skull. This did kill me. However, with the multitude of other forces in this universe like gods, angels, and other beings, my journey had still not come to an end. 

I opened my eyes to pitch black all around me. Then a body of black flames flickered in front of me to reveal a demon with gray skin, black sclera, yellow irises, violet hair, and black horns and wings.

“Man, what a ride,” he said. “Personally, I think there were a few ways you still could have won. And here I thought it was just getting good. Never thought Asai would kill you right then and there though. What you’ve done really has changed her. Bravo.”

“I know I am, but where exactly in Hell am I?” I asked.

“Hm? So you’re aware there are different parts to Hell?” he said. “Interesting. Currently, you’re in the ninth circle; the final circle: the circle of Damnation. But, contrary to popular belief, we don’t torture humans or any being for eternity. Think of us as correctional officers. We’re here just to force you to change, then you choose which afterlife you wish to go to.”

“Which? I get a choice?”

“There’s more than one. Of course, there’s our opposite, the Heaven Dimension. Then the other mythologies have their own afterlife dimensions too. Like the Haven Gods,” he said. 

“Why is no one else here?”

“I'm blocking you from seeing or hearing the others. I called your spirit here. I have a proposition for you,” he said.

“A deal with a demon?” I said. “I’ll pass.”

“Did I elaborate on how the correction works down here?” he said. “Each circle is tailored to torture those who have practiced the sin of that circle.

“So what would damnation be?”

“Worse than all of them. I’d like to explain it, but even explaining the correction would cause even your spirit’s mind to melt,” the demon explained. “Along with the actual torture, your mind would believe the torture was happening for an eternity, even those it isn’t. Try and figure out how that works.”

I said nothing in response.

“What do you really have to lose?”

“Why do you want to help me?” I questioned.

“Because I wish to see you win. The reason you were doing this I believed was noble, but your methods are what landed you here,” he explained. “You have no idea how many people those Nobles have sent to the afterlife accidentally. I think it’s best to teach them one final lesson.”

“Do you plan on resurrecting me? What would your opposites say to this?” I asked.

“You let me deal with them,” he said. “Yes, death is pretty permanent for most humans. There have been exceptions to the rules very rarely--”

“What about when I successfully killed Tyfuse and he came back? Even he was stunned by that,” I recalled.

“Ah, that. Yeah, along with their powers, the Archs are given an extra life. Just an added bonus to being a ‘hero’, I assume,” the demon said. “I wish to do the same for you. But you only get this last chance.”

“So I’ll have to kill each of the Archs twice?” I asked. The demon nodded.

“You’ll also receive a power boost from me. You may find some pleasant surprises along the way. This is only so your battles with the Archs are on a more level playing ground,” he said. “Even Lux, who you believe has only received two serums, is something else in addition to having the serums.”

“What happens if I die again?” I questioned.

“If you die before you complete your mission, you’ll go through the torture thing in this circle that I was talking about,” he said. “But, if you complete your mission, you’ll still die.”

“What?!”

“It’s payment. But, if you die this way, your sentence here will be shortened.”

“Subtracted from an eternity? Or what I’ll think is one.”

He nodded.

“One last question. Do you know where my brother is?”

“The Heaven Dimension. He’ll be waiting for you in Eternal Rest.”